1. Title, director and release year?
World in the Balance: The People Paradox
Sarah Holt
2004
2. What is the central argument or narrative of the film?
This movie shows the drastic population trends that are going on today. In India there are so many people and with little/no women’s rights and high illiteracy rates in certain areas, it’s difficult to control the population and to keep women safe and healthy. In Japan, the opposite is happening where women are waiting much longer to start families or have children because of their education/career. In some African states the population growth is out of control, where the average woman is have six children, which brings problems like shortage of resources, health problems, violence.
3. What sustainability problems does the film draw out?
This movie shows the population issues with each of the countries/regions. This goes into overpopulation with shortages in food, water, resources, health issues and living conditions. In some areas this means that there are population decline, which means that there are economic problems with the older generations and puts family values into question. With extreme overpopulation and terrible disease affecting a population, it can wipe out certain age groups that cause economic strife as well as unbalanced resources in the country, this goes into resource issues as well as unemployment and many children that are left without parents.
4. What parts of the film did you find most persuasive and compelling? Why?
- It’s so ridiculous to see the scenes of certain India regions. o The facts are amazing, of the number of people that are just crammed into such small areas and such rough living conditions o That’s so horrible that woman can’t decide what happens to her own body. The mother in law and the husband are the ones that decide whether a woman can have control and are the “gatekeepers” for the family. Women don’t have a choice if they want to have a baby, it’s more important for a husband to have more sons than for him to have his wife survive o In India 95% of marriages are still arranged marriages – that’s just incomprehensible to me. I respect their religion and culture but I just can never imagine my parents telling me who I would marry 5-6 years ago o “Daughters are seen as an economic liability” o 25,000 women are killed or maimed every year because of domestic abuse. They are doused in kerosene and burnt or poisoned. Mostly happens because they “don’t have a boy,” o That’s so upsetting the numbers of girls that are aborted
- It’s amazing to see what education does for women in certain areas. It gives them confidence and power in their home because they are making their own money. It shows them that when their families are smaller there are more opportunities for their children
- Now moving to Japan, woman are waiting to much longer to get married and start a family o It’s interesting to see such a difference, plus it’s so sad to see the old couple that basically has no one taking care of them. o The government or the private companies are not taking care of the elderly o Japan would have to take in 600,000 immigrants a year to keep their population stable
- 6-9% of all Kenyans are infected with HIV which is seriously tied in their population problems o It’s most common for Kenyan women to get HIV through marriage because that is mostly where men do not wear condoms
5. What parts of the film were you not compelled or convinced by?
- I’m so confused right in the beginning of the movie when they talk about how the population is going to decrease… we watching everything on how the population is growing on such a massive rate o How is this both correct? The population is rapidly increasing, but decreasing at the same time? I guess this is why it’s called the paradox?
- There was an Indian man that was totally disregarding India having such problems. I understand that he is proud of his country, but he’s not admitting that there is a problem in his own country and of course he is biased to the situation
- In one section they talk about India having too many children per couple and now they complain about women in Japan focusing too much on their career and not having enough children. This seems very contradictory.
- This movie keeps going back and forth between population growth being a negative aspect in society and how it’s going to be a good thinking for population growth. Maybe I’m not understanding what they are saying, but one country needs to not have as many kids because there will be no food left, but then another country needs to have more children because their older generation is not being taken care of
6. What additional information does this film compel you to seek out? Where do you want to dig \
- This makes me very interested in India’s culture and their religious views because it is so different than my culture, especially with women’s rights and the abortion rates of baby girls. This really hits home to me because I have two cousins from China, adopted because they were abandon in their own country from their own mothers
- I would also like to learn more about Korean culture and what they value meaning the family and career balance. I would understand more about their population problems if I knew more about their family culture and what they value in life
7. What audiences does the film best address? What kind of imagination is fostered in viewers? Do you think the film is likely to change the way viewers think about and act on environmental problems?
This film best addresses the general public because there are so many different topics and regions that are covered and every person has to somehow relate to a country or a person that was in this movie. It goes into many different topics with women, religion, education, career choices and family planning, and for anyone who watches this would learn greatly, especially because these problems are not necessarily known to the general population.
8. What kinds of action or points of intervention are suggested by the film?
- In India, it was suggested sex education and family planning would really help their family and population problems.
- In African countries there are problems with HIV and poor family planning and very dangerous abortions, which can be solved by promoting safe sex practices
- The key is education for women and for women to be liberated in their countries and to make their own decisions on how many children they actually want to have. This will keep women safe and will not mean that women are being pressured from other family members to have more children when they do not want to.
9. What could have been added to this film to enhance its environmental educational value?
It would have been more beneficial if the movie talked more about how the population changes truly changed the environment. It was somewhat talked about with crop supplies and general resources, but it would have been more educational if they went into more detail about what a huge population increase would do to certain environments, and also what a huge population decrease would mean for the environment in the area.
World in the Balance: The People Paradox
Sarah Holt
2004
2. What is the central argument or narrative of the film?
This movie shows the drastic population trends that are going on today. In India there are so many people and with little/no women’s rights and high illiteracy rates in certain areas, it’s difficult to control the population and to keep women safe and healthy. In Japan, the opposite is happening where women are waiting much longer to start families or have children because of their education/career. In some African states the population growth is out of control, where the average woman is have six children, which brings problems like shortage of resources, health problems, violence.
3. What sustainability problems does the film draw out?
This movie shows the population issues with each of the countries/regions. This goes into overpopulation with shortages in food, water, resources, health issues and living conditions. In some areas this means that there are population decline, which means that there are economic problems with the older generations and puts family values into question. With extreme overpopulation and terrible disease affecting a population, it can wipe out certain age groups that cause economic strife as well as unbalanced resources in the country, this goes into resource issues as well as unemployment and many children that are left without parents.
4. What parts of the film did you find most persuasive and compelling? Why?
- It’s so ridiculous to see the scenes of certain India regions.
o The facts are amazing, of the number of people that are just crammed into such small areas and such rough living conditions
o That’s so horrible that woman can’t decide what happens to her own body. The mother in law and the husband are the ones that decide whether a woman can have control and are the “gatekeepers” for the family. Women don’t have a choice if they want to have a baby, it’s more important for a husband to have more sons than for him to have his wife survive
o In India 95% of marriages are still arranged marriages – that’s just incomprehensible to me. I respect their religion and culture but I just can never imagine my parents telling me who I would marry 5-6 years ago
o “Daughters are seen as an economic liability”
o 25,000 women are killed or maimed every year because of domestic abuse. They are doused in kerosene and burnt or poisoned. Mostly happens because they “don’t have a boy,”
o That’s so upsetting the numbers of girls that are aborted
- It’s amazing to see what education does for women in certain areas. It gives them confidence and power in their home because they are making their own money. It shows them that when their families are smaller there are more opportunities for their children
- Now moving to Japan, woman are waiting to much longer to get married and start a family
o It’s interesting to see such a difference, plus it’s so sad to see the old couple that basically has no one taking care of them.
o The government or the private companies are not taking care of the elderly
o Japan would have to take in 600,000 immigrants a year to keep their population stable
- 6-9% of all Kenyans are infected with HIV which is seriously tied in their population problems
o It’s most common for Kenyan women to get HIV through marriage because that is mostly where men do not wear condoms
5. What parts of the film were you not compelled or convinced by?
- I’m so confused right in the beginning of the movie when they talk about how the population is going to decrease… we watching everything on how the population is growing on such a massive rate
o How is this both correct? The population is rapidly increasing, but decreasing at the same time? I guess this is why it’s called the paradox?
- There was an Indian man that was totally disregarding India having such problems. I understand that he is proud of his country, but he’s not admitting that there is a problem in his own country and of course he is biased to the situation
- In one section they talk about India having too many children per couple and now they complain about women in Japan focusing too much on their career and not having enough children. This seems very contradictory.
- This movie keeps going back and forth between population growth being a negative aspect in society and how it’s going to be a good thinking for population growth. Maybe I’m not understanding what they are saying, but one country needs to not have as many kids because there will be no food left, but then another country needs to have more children because their older generation is not being taken care of
6. What additional information does this film compel you to seek out? Where do you want to dig \
- This makes me very interested in India’s culture and their religious views because it is so different than my culture, especially with women’s rights and the abortion rates of baby girls. This really hits home to me because I have two cousins from China, adopted because they were abandon in their own country from their own mothers
- I would also like to learn more about Korean culture and what they value meaning the family and career balance. I would understand more about their population problems if I knew more about their family culture and what they value in life
7. What audiences does the film best address? What kind of imagination is fostered in viewers? Do you think the film is likely to change the way viewers think about and act on environmental problems?
This film best addresses the general public because there are so many different topics and regions that are covered and every person has to somehow relate to a country or a person that was in this movie. It goes into many different topics with women, religion, education, career choices and family planning, and for anyone who watches this would learn greatly, especially because these problems are not necessarily known to the general population.
8. What kinds of action or points of intervention are suggested by the film?
- In India, it was suggested sex education and family planning would really help their family and population problems.
- In African countries there are problems with HIV and poor family planning and very dangerous abortions, which can be solved by promoting safe sex practices
- The key is education for women and for women to be liberated in their countries and to make their own decisions on how many children they actually want to have. This will keep women safe and will not mean that women are being pressured from other family members to have more children when they do not want to.
9. What could have been added to this film to enhance its environmental educational value?
It would have been more beneficial if the movie talked more about how the population changes truly changed the environment. It was somewhat talked about with crop supplies and general resources, but it would have been more educational if they went into more detail about what a huge population increase would do to certain environments, and also what a huge population decrease would mean for the environment in the area.